A PII 400 this slow??

[BuRPooTuS]

I built a computer (my first) with ASUS P2B Mboard,PII 400,128 PC-100 RAM,17.2Maxtor UDMA,Viper550 AGP 16 meg, Soundblaster PCI 128,Loaded with Win 98.It takes 4 1/2 minutes to boot from scratch , 30 seconds to load Netscape Comunicator 4 , 18 sec's to load Outlook.I have minimal programs in the background.I have run system monitor and noticed up to 64 meg of locked memory with everything ctrl-alt-deleted but systray and explorer.I can't write a cd-r at 4x(600kbps)speed.I notice if i go between aps and click the mouse it is several seconds before a menu will popup.I am confident 98 is optimized and i know jumpers/cables are correct.I feel i have a hardware problem , but how can I find out if I bought crappy memory or if the Mboard or processor is the problem?

[Isos]

I would guess a conflict somewhere. You can try removing devices and see if load time improve. However, that caan give you a false impression. If you can, remove everything, reformat your HD, install one device at a time and see which device is slowing down your system. Lot of work http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif

Good Luck! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[smunzli]

check your bios to see if l2 cache is enabled. ya i know its on the cpu chip but your bios can turn it on or off

[This message has been edited by smunzli (edited 03-12-99).]

[Sterling]

You probably have a conflict somewhere or possibly some corruption of the O/S. You may want to check systems properties thru device manager and check each resources tab for all the devices installed and see if any conflicts are listed on those resources tabs for the corresponding device. Another means for information for your system is to
"start" "programs" "accessories" "system tools" and select "system information". It does provide details. Currently with Windows98 when you select conflict/sharing" in the System Information, you will see that IRQ 9, IRQ11, IRQ14, & IRQ15 are showing that they are being shared. 9 should be the USB Host and Holder for PCI steering
11 may be your video and holder for PCI steering
14 Primary IDE & Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE controller
15 Secondary IDE & Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller.
If you have additional devices listed, there may be potential for conflict due to IRQ sharing.
Another item to look at would be to verify your memory is located in the first bank. Your manual should list this a BankO or Bank1 as the first. If you have no critical data to worry about backing up, I would do a clean install to start over. Your system should be rocking & rolling and not dragging its feet.

[BuRPooTuS]

Thanks for the help guys . pstguide's advice in "tips for sluggish.." did the trick.I started deleting devices in device manager , leaving the mouse , and i got down to about 4 left in system devices (was i nervous? , naaahh)and she locked up.Upon reboot , win 98 did it's thing and reloaded all drivers on it's own and machine has been doin great!Had to reload network stuff under windows setup in add remove programs is the only thing I've found so far.Thanks to folks like you and sites like this a layman like me can build his own computer and maintain it , thanks again!